Cee-Lo has seen his star grow brighter and brighter since he and Danger Mouse set the world on fire with “Crazy.” The Goodie Mob emcee recently revealed to Vibe that he was approached to fill an empty seat on American Idol’s judge panel. 

“I was asked,” Cee-Lo said. “[Jackson and I] talked about it very, very casually. [He said,] ‘Go for it. It’s open, who could really argue with that? I support you.’” The vacant spots eventually went to Aerosmith legend Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez. Cee-Lo is confident he made the right decision. “I think we were just kind of joking around. I don’t think I would’ve been up for doing it. I’m not a judge of people. I observe, but I don’t judge people.”

As The Soul Machine gears up to release his third solo LP The Lady Killer, riding the wave of his hit single “Fuck You,” he also spoke on the recent legal troubles of the songs co-writer Bruno Mars. “I spoke to him last night,” he said. “Truthfully, we laughed a little bit about it. He said that he was a little embarrassed and of course it was an inconvenient incident that hopefully he can put behind him. I believe that his work ethic, his attitude, will outshine the incident overall.”